Hikkaduwa on Sri Lanka’s west coast is renowned as a party beach, so who better to write about it than a glamorous marketing lady who works for a glitzy fashion portal?

Bijal Soni (pictured) heads the PR department at Namshi.com, the self-proclaimed “Middle East’s number one online fashion retailer”, after years at some of the world’s top PR agencies.

She comes to Hikkaduwa with a refreshingly open mind—“Sri Lanka was never anywhere on my Top 10 places to visit ever”—which was changed by a fashion journo who convinced her to give Sri Lanka a go.

“I mean don’t get me wrong, maybe because I have seen way too much of elephants & tea farms in other Asian countries, but there is a completely different side to Sri Lanka that I was ignorant about, and boy was I wrong!”

As she says, Hikkaduwa “was where I was told to go – I was sold at the Beaches and Nightlife!”. And she quickly found that the reputation of this most vibrant of our many tourist resorts is not misplaced.

For beats, she was particularly impressed with the Vibration Club, “the highlight of my trip! The music was absolutely phenomenal – some of the best tunes for electro, commercial and deep house which you don’t find unless you go all the way to Tomorrowland. Yes I love my parties!”

For eats, Refresh “has popped up so many times as one of the must-go places to eat at – and rightfully so with such a huge international menu. Order the pizza! I can still taste them – they were THAT good!”

Meanwhile, the Madu River Safari included “some of the most beautiful lagoons that you would have seen” and visiting a cinnamon farm, Buddha temple and fish farm.

“All in all it took about two hours but on our way back on the boat, I felt a drop on my knee and within a matter of five seconds, the sky literally erupted and I was drenched.

“Not like a light drizzle but roaring thunder and pours – I was cold and wet but we didn’t mind at all and instead were squealing like little kids because it felt like a perfect end to our journey.”